Factory Kit 2005 (FK05)
May 24th, 2005
I have all the Xray cars since the first was released.
The first model (T1) was released just after I was able to drive for
5 minutes without crashing (amazing isn't it?) and somehow I
attached my skills improvement to the fact I was driving an Xray.
The car was unlike anything I had before. The
durability when compared with the Yokomo or the HPI Pro 2 (one
of the sturdiest cars around at the time) was amazing.
The drive shafts would last forever, the diff
didn't need rebuild for dozens and dozens of runs, crash
resistance was also amazing. I was sold!!! From now on I'll one
have Xray cars.
In the mean time I managed to improve my skills
to the point I won races at National level with the EVO2 and I
tried everything in the book regarding Xray cars.
They all have one common characteristic. They
are of super quality in performance and building.
The FK05 is coming and I'm going to get mine. No
doubt about that. The previous models (T1 Factory Kit) has been
a front runner in all the races and practice sessions I made.
Whatever I do or try it seems that it's impossible to be beaten
by other cars. Of course that the occasional practice pack
leaves me frustrated like hell, but I do make setup mistakes and
I have to pay them ...
Following the trend, this car has a middle shaft
lowered so that a 84 teeth spur lays almost flush with the
bottom of the chassis. The same tendency that ALL the cars have
nowadays.
Tech Racing started the trend with the MY02
Monster that was the basis for the hugely successful Tamiya
415 and 415 MS, and for the Corally RDX, the successor of
the Suicidal (sorry, the Assassin).
 Of
course that you'll now see a lot of people telling that Xray
copied Corally (oh no not again) or that it copied
Tamiya. In fact the thing that started it all was Tech
Racing.
Xray guys are very very smart.
They could do a new model that would make all
your spares obsolete and that would turn all the shop owners red
with fury, but no, they decided to stick with a multitude of
parts that are compatible from previous cars.
The suspension, transmission belts,
differential, and a lot more are the same exact parts of
previous models.
This way when the car hits the tracks there are
already spares for it waiting for any accident. Try that with
Yokomo... or with HPI and email me (lol lol)
Running
One day after finishing the car I had a race. I
just decided to enter the brand new and untested car.
The first time I tried it was on the first
qualifying run. Amazing!!! Dialed ou t of the box. So much that the
best time was mine. I got the TQ with the car with no experience
whatsoever.
The final result of the race had other factors
involved but the fastest time of the day was again my last
final.
An amazing car indeed.
A few more practice sessions
A couple of things are became clear with this
new chassis. I was feeling some lack of steering on corner
exit. The car would under steer greatly when on power, even with
one way fitted.
The entry on the curves was amazing but I had to
wait a little before applying power and that was taking a
couple of tenths of second away.
Xray came to the rescue launching the new C Hubs
with 4.5º. After fitting them the problem was solved. The car
now has an amazing entry and exit of curves. The turn speed is
faster and the car is so very well balanced that I can grab the
throttle much faster than I used to do.
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